Because of an increasing use of computer networks, corporations, especially large corporations, have a myriad of information in electronic form. This electronic information is typically stored on multiple servers that are distributed globally. Much of this stored information is sensitive or confidential. Therefore, corporations take computer security very seriously. This is why most corporate information is transmitted over secure telecommunication channels.
The use of secure channels to transmit information from a server to an employee's computer often uses processor-intensive encryption. This approach is costly and unnecessary since the majority of company information is not sensitive. The extra processor cycles required for encryption may cripple a server under heavy user load.
As another measure of security, most corporations require that employees be authenticated when accessing a particular server. Typically, this authentication requires the user to enter a network identification and password so that they may access the desired information on that server. However, if the employee desires information that is stored on another server, the employee will have to re-enter his or her network identification and password to access that information on that server. This re-entering of the network identification and password each time a different server is accessed is burdensome and oftentimes very frustrating to an employee.